Game apparatus



Oct. 18, 1938'.

A ITORNEYS Patented Oct. 18,1938A UNITED As'rri'ras PATENT oFFIcle:K

naam GAME mana'rus Harvey B. Hawgood, Cleveland, Ohio Application November 12, 1934,Serial No. '152,580

9 Claims.

This invention relates to games and to appa ratus for use in playing the same. Y

An object of the invention is to providean improved series of articles or apparatus for-,playing games` which will enable the participant to determinehis course oi action.

Another object is to provide an improved series of articles for playing a game which will convey to the mind of a player the characteristics or 10 values of various combinations of said articles.

Another object is to provide an improved series of articles for playing a game which will facilitate the teaching of games to beginners.`

Y Another object is to provide an improved series of articles which` will reduce the mental calculations which must be'made by the player.

Other objects will hereinafter appear.

The invention will be better understood from the description of two practical embodiments thereof, illustrated in the accompanying drawing,`in which:

Figure l is a view oi a series of cards embodying the invention arranged to show` oneside and one end of each card;

Figure 2 is a view oi a different sexies of cards similar to those of Figure l and arranged to illustrate one way in which they may be used.

Figure 3 is a view of the cards `shown in Figure 2, but showing them arranged to illustrate another manner in which they may be used; and Figure 4 is a view of a sexies of cards differing from those oi' the rst three figures and arranged to be used in the same manner as the cards shown in Figure 2.

The cards illustrated are intended for use in playing the game known as. contract bridge, but it will be apparent that the invention may be applied to many other games.

With the cards illustrated. it would be possible 40 more easily'to play auction bridgef and only slightly dierent mathematical calculations and re-arrangement would be required to adapt the deck to such games as ve hundred" and the like, where the type of lplay depends upon the taking of tricks.

It'will be understood that the cards illustrated are merely typical and that for playing bridge a` full deck of iiIty-two cards ,of'conventional denominations running from the deuce ato the ace 5@ in the 'four common suits wouldy be used, while'in some oi the other games the elevens and twelves in the four suits, jokers, and other cards might be added. n A

'I'he cards themselves willbe referred to here inafter by their own commonlyv accepted names asv ace, fking, queen, etc., rather than by additional reference numerals applied thereto.

Incidentally, .the series of l cards shown embodies,l in those markings which are jintended to. Q0 show the trump value `oi lthe hand,v one well known system of bridge game to indicate the method of bidding; in those indicating the notrump value, another well known system. It will be obvious that either series of markings may be based upon any desired system of calculation and that the two chosen here, like the game, are' selected merely for illustrative, purposes. Six cards appear in Figure l, and it will be understood that markings such as shown upon the ace, king, queen, jack and ten of spades will be provided on the corresponding cards of each of the other suits. The remaining cards of the deck, namely from the deuce to the nine in all four suits, are provided with markings identical to those shown on the four of spades.

It will be obvious that the usual spots, faces and pips may be provided upon the cards so that they resemble very closely those of a conventional deck.` For convenience, the size of the conventional markings may be reduced, particularly that of the pips, which will permit the lines to be moved nearer the tops of the cards. Thus a beginner plays withcards carrying all the symbols found in the conventional deck and learns automatically to evaluate a hand without having 25 to stop andi-make mental calculation of the cembinations of A"'alrd which occur in it. It will be noted that thereA are two series oi markings'or indicia, one along the sides of the cards and one along the tops thereof, the former 30 being for use in determining the trump value of a hand, and the latter for determining the notrump value thereof.l According to the system used by' some players, no-trump values may be based upon the same indicia used for trump '.values. The markings consist of series oi' lines so arranged that when the cards arevarranged in the manner in which they are normally held in the players hand, that is, with those of the same suit grouped together with the highest card of the suit to the left, the cards of the suit arranged in numerical order or importance, from the highest card to the lowest at the right, these lines will indicate a. Vpath from card to card. This path is provided with indicia which indicate directly' to the mind of the user the value of thel various combinations of cards. A

As is well known in the playingv VVf contract bridge, the value of the cards in any particularv suit depends mainly upon combinations including one or more of the ilve highest or honor cards, and are assigned certain values known as honor tricks- H For instance, the ace alone is worth one honor trick, the ace and king two honor tricks, the ace and queen one and one-half honor'tricks, the king and queen one honortrick, the kingqueen and jack or ten one-.half honor trick, and so on.

-Also, that unless a hand contains a certain number of honor tricks, it is not suiliciently strong ,00

to warrant a trump bid. Fluther, that atrump should not be bid in any suit which does not contain suiilcient strengthand length.

For instance, an original bid bg the first bidder requires that h e hold at least 2 honor tricks in his hand and to bid a suit for trump, he must have at least four cards of the suit bid and 1%/2 l honor tricks in this suit. In other positions, and latter other bids, different values are required. (D The markings and indicia accompanying them illustrated in the drawing make it possi le for .the bidder, after arranging his cards, at a glance to determine the value of honor tricks in each suit, and whether or notthe suit is biddable, in the following manner: A

Upon the ace is placed an arrow. II marked as shown` with the numeral l and the word Start. The numeral indicates the honor trick value of this card alone, and the arrow and word Start indicate that the player holding this card should trace a path along a linev starting from this arrow.

On the king is a line I2 arranged at the same position along the side of the card as arrow II. 9 5 and associated with this line is a numeral 2 so that when the ace and king arey placed side by, side the path from the arrow II runs along the line' I2, and the honor trick value of the pombination is indicated by the numeral 2. In other words, the one trick value of any combination is indicated by the highest numeral appearing along thepath starting from the arrow on the highest card ofthe suit.

The king also bears an arrow I3 which is marked Start if high, which is to indicate that ii the player holds the king but not the ace, his

path will start from this point.

Similarly on the queen is a line I4 arranged at a` position along its edge to be brought into alignment with the inner end of line I2 when the king and queen are placed together. It is also provided with a line I5; the outer edge of which is arranged to come into alignment with arrow II when the ace and queen are placed together and bears numeral l1/2 indicating the value of the ace-queen combination. It likewise has a line I6 arranged to be aligned with the arrow I3 of the kingand bearing a numeral 1 y to indicate the one honor trick value of the kingqueen trick combination.

Below these lines is an arrow I1 marked, as in Start if high and indicates the starting point of the path in the case of a' queen-high combinatlon. o

Upon the jack similar lines are placed, line I8 .being :arranged to serve as a continuation of lineA III on-the queen, line I9 as a-continuation of line' I2 on the-king or of line I5 on the queen.

0o Line 2li is a continuation of line I6 onv the king; 2l is a continuation .of arrow II on the ace; line 22 of the arrow I3 on the king; line 23 of theA arrow I1 on the queen, and the arrow 2l marked .Start i! high for the beginning of the path in'- knows instantly that the.. suit in his hand has" both-sumcient length and strength to warrant himin bidding it. The` ten likewise has a series of lines which 'Il will come into augment with the endsof any the case ofthe arrow on the king, with the legendr of the previously mentioned lines or arrows, and which bear inscriptions indicating honor trick value of combinations including this card. The ilrst line26 is precisely like line I8 on the lack, and like it indicatesa biddable4 suit. bears different index 28, shown as an asterisk, which indicates if 4the path from the highest arrow reaches this point that the suit 1s blddable in certain exceptional)` but not all, circumstances.

For instance, it indicates the biddability of a 10 four-card suit in ahand holdingdlv honor tricks. which, under the system being discussed, warrants a bid of two as an original bids A Line Il" which is arranged to serve as' a continuation of arrow I1 on the queen indicates an honor card ,5

value of V4, but, as this combination is worth I if the king and a spot" of f'some other suit appear inthe hand, this is indicated by the legend appearing in the parentheses (+KX=%) Similarly, line 29 indicates a combination which 20 is worth 1/4 only if the queen and a rspot appear in some other suit, which is indicated by the legend ,+QX=1/4.

The marks on the spots" below the ten are similar to those of the latter, with -a slightly 25 diifring arrangement of the groups coming to points 30 and 3l. l In Figure 2, a typical combination of cards in the heart suit is illustrated. 'I'hese have been arranged as above described, reading from high go to low. The player, after arranging the cards in this order, aligns their edges as by resting them upon the table, and, starting with the arrow I3, runs his eye along the path it traces, which shows him instantly numeral I appearing on u the ten spot, and that the end of the path arrives at-the symbol B on the four spot, so that without any mental calculation he knows the honor card value of this suit to be one and the suit to be biddable. 40

He follows the same procedure with the three other suits, and, i! he nds 11/2 more tricks amongst these, knows that` he can make a oneheart bid upon the hand. y

In Figure 4 a series 'of cards is shown having 45 marks similar to those of the rst two ilgures but arranged so that the cards maybe aligned 'while held in the hand spread in fan-wise fashion.

For the purpose of properly aligning the cards, each ,or them has been provided near its top with 50 a base line IIIII and the player merely arranges his cards with these base lines forming. a continuo'us line across the cards of one suit. 'I'his brings the various lines on the sides of the .cards in proper relation to each other, so that they 55 may be read as in the embodiment above described.

With the group oi cards illustrated, the path of eye starts with the arrow I I'I and travels along its routetthe symbol |25 from which it is`ap- 60 parent the cards illustrated constitute a biddable l suit and that the honor trick value of this suit as shown by the numeral on line IIS is 1%, While it is possible from the honor trick value of the various suits to determine the value of 55..

the'hand atrio-trump, anothermethod of determining this has been provided. 'Ihis is based upon another system of bidding; in which, for determining the no-trump value of the hand, the various cards from the Yten to the ace are givenv different values, the value of the ten, -for instance, being y, and the ace 4. f

These valign are added together, andtwelve or more points are xecessaryto warrant a one no-trump bid, `depending upon the position o! 'la1 une 21 5f the hand and the preceding bids. This is commonly known as the "point count, and means for indicating it are shown.in Figures 1 and 3 `arranged along the tops of the cards. Upon the top of the ace is placed an arrow 4I bearing the legend Start" and the numeral I". This is to indicate the beginning of the path which the users eye should trace, Just as the arrow Il `does with regard to the marks on the sides of the cards.

Upon the king is a line 42 the upper end ofwhich is at the sameposition laterally .as the arrow 4|, this line being accompanied by the numeral 'IPwhich indicates the,combined value of the ace and king.

This card also carries an arrow 43 with the inscription Start if high and/the numeral 3 Similar lines and arrows appearupon'the queen, jack and ten, the lines on each card being so arranged that they will serve as a continuation of any line or arrow on any of the preceding cards.

and each havingl, accompanying .it' the pointcount value of the combination which it represents.

In the use of these insignia, the cards are arranged as shown in Figure 3, the path traced from the highest arrow along the line showing that the total value of the cards illustrated is l Lll/. Consequently, with the heart cards shown, it would be necessary to have 'W2 in a "point count in -the other three suits in order to bid one no-trump.

In Figure 4 an aligning line |40 is provided adjacent the upper right hand corner of the card and beneath this oneach of the cards are arranged arrows and lines Il! corresponding to those illustrated at the tops of the cards in. Figure 1. 'I'he arrangement is such that when the cards are fanned out to expose their upper righthand corners, as by shifting the lower cards to the right, or inverting the cards as shown in this gure, these lines may be read across the cards in the same mannerasthe lines along the tops are read on the cards of Figure 3. The cards are, of course, aligned before reading them in the same manner as was described in conjunction with the lines on the left hand edges thereof. It will be understood that reference to "playing 'a hand herein includes the bidding of the hand and/or otherwise playing the hand, as by melding or the actual laying down of the cards upontricks or the like. 4 1 While I have describedthe illustrated embodilments of my invention in some particularity, ob-

vously many ,others will readily occur to those skilled in this art, and I therefore do not limit myself to the precise details shown andde scribed, but claim as my invention all embodiments, modiiications and variations coming with-` in the scope of the appended claims.

I claim': 1. A deck of playing cards some 'offwhich are provided with indicia indicating a starting point and others of which are provided with indicia serving as continuations of said first mentioned indicia. and indicating a playing informational characteristic of the group of cards.

2. A deck of playing ecards, some of which are provided with indicia indicating acharacteristic of these cards when taken alone, and others of which are provided with indicia serving as' continuations of said first mentioned indicia and indicating characteristics of a plurality of cards, and others of which are provided with indicia acting as continuations of said second mentioned indicia and indicating playing characteristics of -a group of cards. 1

3. A deck of playing cards, lines thereon, the lines on the cards having extreme values indicating.. selectively lines on successiveI cards, and the lines on successive cards arranged to continne the lines on the ilrst vn ientioned cards across intermediate cards to the most remote card of a group, and indicia associated with said lines giving a playing informational characteristic of any group of cards.

of cards marked to indicate a definite sequence of value, lines on some of said cards adjacent a vertical edge and indicating a starting point, lines on other of the cards adjacent a corresponding vertical edge and adapted to be brought into augment with said nrst mentioned lines and serving as a continuation thereof, said lines extending on the face of the card and in general in the direction of said edge and terminating in ends adapted to be brought into alignment with lines on other of the cards, the lines being provided with indicia indicating a playing characteristie of groups of the cards.'

5. A slide-rule-like calculating device comprising a plurality of interchangeable slides, each having alining means, the aligning means being similarly Ypositioned on each of said slides whereby any two or more may be properly alined with each other, and provided with indicia indicating functions of any combination of said slides. f v

6. `A slide-rule-like calculating device comprising a plurality voi' interchangeable slides, each slide having alining means, the slides being relatively thin, whereby they may be conveniently alinement to indicate a. playing informational' characteristic 4of that particular group. of cards'` represented by the slides.

8. A slide-rule-like calculating device comprising a plurality of normally separated slides of thin sheet material, each having indicia along one edge, whereby the slides may be overlapped in any desired combination, and the indicia of the entire combination visible to indicate a function of two or more slides.

9. A `slide-rule-like calculating device comprising a plurality of normally separated slides of thin sheet material, each having alining means and indiciaalong one edge, whereby the slides may be overlapped in any desired combination, and the indicia of the entire combination visible to indicate a function of two or more slides.

HARVEY R. HAWGOOD.

arranged in overlapping relation, and each pro- 

